


Behind the Mask

by Rapidasher



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Adult Peter Parker, Big Brother Peter Parker, Family Fluff, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Morgan Stark Friendship (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Morgan Stark are Siblings (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker, Spider-Man Identity Reveal, Supportive May Parker (Spider-Man)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25679884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rapidasher/pseuds/Rapidasher
Summary: A collection of one-shots featuring our favourite Spiderman. Extreme fluff and sappiness inside, primarily based around family moments between Peter and Morgan.
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	1. Christmas Boyfriend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @Lebaas, this is all your fault

"When she said she had invited someone, I didn't think it would be like this."

"Peter! Stop scowling, you're going to terrify him. And what did you think Morgan meant when she said 'a friend', with all that blushing and smiling?"

"Oh, I suppose a normal, platonic, female friend. She has lots of those, MJ."

"Chris is a nice boy. He seems good for Morgan, he makes her laugh."

"You've talked to him? Et tu, MJ--"

"It's 'et tu, brute', and even as initials I don't pronounce my name like that."

"Pft. I know the quote, which is why I put the emphasis on the J, so as to sound more like brute. Duh."

"Twenty six and my husband still speaks like a five year old. How lucky I must be to be a wife and mother to the same person."

"Hang on! What's he up to? I can see you, you little twerp, with your stupid skateboarder haircut and--"

"He just put his arm around her waist, Peter. Morgan is sixteen now, this kind of thing is normal. There's nothing wrong with her having a boyfriend."

"He's practically molesting her in front of everyone at this party."

"Stop glaring at Chris."

"But--"

"No buts."

"Fine."

"Pouting isn't a good look for you, either."

"I am not pouting."

"You're not really worried about this, are you? Morgan's smart, Peter. She's going to be ok."

"Yeah, I know, I just... I can't help it. I've always looked out for her, but this isn't something I can protect her from."

"What, a boyfriend? Heartbreak? She's becoming an adult. Making her own choices is a part of that. It doesn't look like she's making any stupid ones so far, anyways. You can't protect her forever."

"This isn't protecting her, MJ. Just a friendly, non-verbal reminder to Chris that if he hurts her I'll feed his own arms to him, that's all."

"I know she's basically the younger sister you never had, but that's a tad strong, Peter." 

"Nonsense! Besides, if I don't do this for her, who will? If Mr. Stark were here he would be glaring right along with me."

"Honestly, if Tony were here I think he would already have cornered Chris and threatened him with something much more creative than feeding him various appendages."

"Ouch. I could be more creative. I just didn't want to scare the kid, like you were saying."

"Sure."

"I could!"

"Ok, Peter."

"Since you clearly don't appreciate me, I think I'm going to go talk to someone else. Like Chris."

"Peter, no, don't, I--oh, I don't like the look of that grin at all."

~*~*~

"Hi, Peter! I don't think you two have met--Peter, this is my boyfriend Chris. Chris, this is Peter, he's an old family friend."

"Nice to meet you, Peter."

"Hello, Merry Christmas, Chris!"

"Uh, are you feeling alright, Peter? Your voice sounds awfully... hearty."

"I'm doing just fine, thank you, Morgan. I was wondering if I could have a quick word with Chris."

"Fine with me. Morgan, I'll come back in a minute. So, what do you need, Peter?"

"Well, I just came over here to--"

"Hang on, is this the 'death and dismemberment if you hurt Morgan' talk? I already got two of those from Ms. Pepper and MJ."

"Oh, I... well. That's kind of weird."

"Yeah. I told them that even though we're pretty young, I really like Morgan. I'm not going to do anything to hurt her."

"Well, that's good. Yeah. Great! I actually came over here to tell you not to give Morgan any jewelry, because she doesn't wear it all that much, but seeing as it's Christmas day I guess it's sort of too late for that."

"Yeah, I actually got her a book instead. I hope she won't think that's too boring. If you have any ideas for birthday gifts, I wouldn't mind hearing them. I don't want to get her a book again, you know?"

"Right, uh, I don't really know... maybe ask FRIDAY, she might have some ideas."

"Thanks."

"Well, I should probably get back to MJ, dinner is about to start, so... see you around, Chris."

"You too, Peter."

~*~*~

"So, how'd it go?"

"You absolute sneak, you. My own wife has betrayed me not once but twice, and on Christmas no less. You have single handedly taken away my adopted-older-brother right to threaten her boyfriend."

"Drama queen. It was hardly single handed. Pepper talked to him too."

"What did you both say to him?"

"Pepper appealed to his guilt and ended it by saying that if she ever saw Morgan crying over him, she would call his mom about the kind of son she's raising--"

"Oof. Man to man that is a low blow."

"--And I threatened to have Spiderman beat him up."

"You--wait. Spiderman?"

"Mhmm. I'm not sure he believed me at first, but I told him Spiderman was an intimate friend of mine and wouldn't mind doing me a favour. He's a big fan of yours, by the way."

"'Intimate friend', that's an understatement... wait, a fan? Chris is a fan of Spiderman?"

"Big enough to ask me for Spiderman's autograph right after I threatened to sic you and your Spidey powers on him."

"Huh. Maybe he's not so bad after all. You know, I think Morgan made a pretty good choice of boyfriend."

"Of course you do, Peter."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! This wouldn't exist without @Lebaas, who amazingly beta'd this for me as well. You're the best, love! She also writes great stuff, so please go check her out too


	2. The Happiest Place on Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Morgan travel to Disney World, the happiest place on earth. When things go awry, Peter realizes just how deep the bond between them goes.

Eighteen hours and thirty three minutes. Peter loved Morgan to pieces, but even he knew that it was too much time for a twenty three year old to spend in a car with an eight year old.

"Look, Peter! I can see the signs, they all have Mickey heads on them! We're here, we're here! We're officially at Disney World!"

A very excited eight year old.

Morgan had been keeping a running commentary on everything she saw out of the window, from making up stories of the people in neighbouring cars to remarks on the signage posted all the way from New York to Orlando, reading each one out loud. At first, Peter had responded and joined in, enjoying the time with her. After so many hours of solid driving broken up only for bathroom breaks and drive thru meals, though, his loquacity had worn out. Responses to Morgan's never ending stream of observations had been reduced to interested sounding murmurs of agreement, with the occasional comment thrown in.

"How much longer until--"

"Morgan," Peter interrupted, "remember what I said about that question."

She recited dutifully, "'The more times you ask, the longer it takes, Morgan.' I remember, Peter, honest, but now we're actually here! Have you seen the castle? Or our hotel? I haven't read it on any of the signs yet!"

In spite of how tired he felt, Peter couldn't help but grin at her uncontainable excitement. "The Pop Century resort is still a ways away, Morgan. How long do you think it will take to get there?"

It was a road trip game he had created out of necessity. Morgan was prone to repeatedly asking how much longer they had to drive until the next bathroom break, stop for food, and of course, how much longer until their final destination. She would guess a time of arrival, then he would choose one, and whoever was the closest won.

Morgan glanced at the clock--3:26 pm--and thought for a minute. "I think we'll get there by 3:41," she decided, "and you're not allowed to pick 3:42 right after me. That's rude."

"Can I pick 3:45?"

"Well, ok," Morgan said suspiciously, "but you're not going to do that thing again where you drive slow on purpose just to make me lose like you did last time, right?"

Peter gasped with false outrage. "Morgan, I would never. Last time was just a coincidence. The traffic was bad, it wasn't my fault we ended up getting to the rest stop at 1:20."

"No way! I could feel you driving slower just to take up more time until we got there."

The good natured bickering carried them through the rest of the drive before Peter finally pulled into the hotel parking lot.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Morgan could hardly stay in her seat, conveniently forgetting all about what time they arrived. Peter watched, bemused, as her small fingers fumbled with the seat buckle. He barely had time to get out of the driver’s seat and stretch his legs before Morgan was tearing across the parking lot towards the lobby. He couldn't really blame her, though. Too many hours in a car combined with the fact that it was her first time at Disney meant that Morgan's excitement had transcended normal ranges of human emotion; she was bouncing from foot to foot in visible eagerness for him to catch up.

After they had checked in and settled in the room, Morgan requested swimming at the pool, getting sidetracked at every turn by the lawn games and giant statues of toys along the way. She took pictures of everything on her camera, making Peter stand in a variety of ridiculous poses and recruiting strangers whenever she could to get both of them in the picture. 

Next was dinner, thankfully not at a McDonald's or Wendy's, and then Peter made the executive decision to call it an early night. The decision wasn't popular with Morgan, who wanted to keep exploring, but when Peter reminded her of the long day ahead of them at the Magic Kingdom, she reluctantly agreed to go to bed. In retaliation, she chose the bed by the window and insisted on leaving the curtains open so she could look out as she fell asleep. 

As promised, Peter texted Pepper to let her know they had made it safely. He knew how much she was trusting him to take Morgan on this trip. Originally, Pepper was going to go with Morgan herself, but when a conference for work was unexpectedly moved, she decided this could be a fun sibling bonding type trip for Peter and Morgan.

Peter finished up the message before glancing over at Morgan. She was already breathing slowly and deeply, obviously tired after the long day. He smiled fondly before closing the curtains and laying down in the other bed. After so much driving, he was asleep in seconds.

~*~*~

The next morning, he was awoken not by his alarm, but to the insistent prodding of Morgan poking his leg.

"Peter," she whispered, "wake up. Come on, wake up, we're going to the Magic Kingdom and I don't want to be late!"

He checked the time and groaned. It was 6:16 in the morning.

"Morgan, the park doesn't open for almost three hours."

"I know, but everything takes time! That's what Mom always says. We still have to eat breakfast and you need to get dressed and it will take time to get to the park and there could be traffic. Besides, I want to get there first and take a picture of the castle without anyone else in it."

"OK, OK, I'll get dressed," Peter laughed. "I see you've already picked your outfit for the day."

Morgan had been in a state of agonizing deliberation over her clothing. Like with everything else, she was exacting about details and she had been firm on what she wanted to wear: "comfortable clothing, but it has to have some Disney character on it, and be cute, and match my magic band and my ears." She and Pepper had mapped out each day of the trip, outfit by outfit. She even had painstakingly stitched small Mickey ears on the hems of her heavy denim overalls before they left, excited to practice her hobby of sewing. The sight of the misshapen embroidery was almost enough to make Peter laugh, if not for how many hours he knew she had laboured over them. 

Currently, the Minnie Mouse ears perched on top of her head were hidden from his view as Morgan rifled through his clothes, her head buried in his suitcase.

"Here, green so you can match your magic band, too.” She threw a shirt at him. “Now hurry so we can get breakfast and then go!"

Shaking his head with a smile at her impatience, he took the shirt and got dressed, reminding Morgan to brush her teeth before they left.

Following a very quick breakfast, he was all but dragged to the car by Morgan, who then continually begged him to break the speed limit as they drove. The moment the castle came in sight, they both started cheering. Although he had been to Disney before, Peter got caught up in Morgan's innocent exhilaration as he urged the car to go faster.

Once the car was parked, Peter joined her in running up to the entrance. The security guards smiled at the sight of another pair entering the parks where the adult was just as excited as the child.

Peter watched Morgan taking everything in. From the flowers grown in the shape of Mickey to the quaint buildings of Main Street, she was clearly enchanted by everything she saw. It was a feeling Peter remembered fondly, but he realized how much better it was to see the wonder on Morgan's face.

They walked up to the entrances, which she was pleased to discover were also decorated with Mickey silhouettes. As they pressed their magic bands to the chip readers, Morgan announced to the employee standing nearby, “It's my first time here!”

The woman smiled warmly. “Really? Then I have something for you! What's your name?”

“Morgan!”

Reaching into a bag at her side, the lady withdrew a pin and a marker, writing something on it. When she handed it over to Morgan, Peter saw what was on the front: Morgan's name had been spelled out below a banner saying “First Visit”, surrounded by colourful confetti and Disney characters. She had even added little ears to the “o” of Morgan's name to make a tiny Mickey head.

“Is it your first time as well, young man?” She reached for another pin.

“No,” Peter said, grinning. “Just Morgan's. Morgan, what do you say now?”

Morgan, who had been elatedly examining the pin, immediately responded, “Thank you so much! Look, Peter, she even put a little hidden Mickey right in my name!” Carefully, she clipped the pin to the strap of her overalls.

Joining the crowd gathered in Main Street awaiting the official opening of the park, Peter turned to Morgan.

"OK, this is all exciting but I promised your mom we would go over this every day. We're going to stay together all day, right?"

"Right," Morgan agreed promptly.

"If we do get separated, what are you going to do?"

"Find someone who works here and ask where the area for sick people is, then go wait there for you."

"Exactly. Not that that will happen, because we're going to stick together."

"Yeah, and I don't want to waste any time today waiting." Morgan looked around with an expression of delight.

"Now that's the right attitude for today. Rock, paper, scissors for where we go first?"

Peter lost, which didn't really faze him. They had all day. Morgan picked the It's a Small World ride first, which she loved and Peter couldn't stand. He said imperiously that the dolls were menacing and creepy and something he never wanted to experience again. 

Next was his pick, with the Pirates of the Caribbean ride the obvious choice. They crisscrossed the park too many times, Peter enjoying watching Morgan discover and explore the theme park. Halfway through the day she heard about the Disney Play app and implored Peter to put it on his phone, leading to even more time simply walking around the Magic Kingdom. 

After lunch, Morgan started to flag as they walked through Fantasyland.

"My feet kind of hurt," she said.

"Do you want to go back?" Peter asked.

"No!" She exclaimed. "But maybe we could sit down for just a little while?" 

"Sure," said Peter, checking for an open bench or table. Once they located one and sat down, he gave her his phone to play whatever game was featured on the app. Leaning back, he closed his eyes and sighed as he stretched for a few minutes. Out of habit, he reached out with his Spidey senses, always trying to remain alert to possible danger. The Magic Kingdom was so packed with people he just got overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people and noise and chaotic energy that filled the park. Peter gave up, content to sit and rest for a few minutes. He wouldn't have asked for a break, because he wanted Morgan to have as much time as she could to enjoy Disney, but walking was much more tiring than swinging.

"Where to next, Morgan?" He asked without opening his eyes.

His question was met with silence. Peter sat up and glanced next to him to be met with the sight of an empty bench. No Morgan.

His stomach lurched and his head whipped around, scanning the area for Morgan's brown hair and Minnie ears. 

Where did she go? She had been sitting right next to him! He had lost Morgan, Pepper's precious daughter. She was going to kill him. 

Peter's mind started straying towards terrifying thoughts of kidnapping and abduction. That wouldn't happen at Disney World, would it? The happiest place on Earth? Besides, wouldn't she have made some sound if someone forcibly took her away? Maybe he was overreacting. She could have slipped off to the bathroom or gone into a store. He would revisit--that other thing--as a last possibility. He hadn't sensed any danger, so it seemed more likely that Morgan had left of her own will. That was problematic in and of itself, but it meant she was still close.

Forcing himself to calm down and redirect his thoughts, Peter did a 360, looking carefully and methodically for the little girl. When he still failed to locate her, he walked over to the nearest storefront, addressing a girl around his age wearing an employee uniform.

"Excuse me, have you seen my--my sister? She's eight, about this tall, wearing overalls and a Mickey Mouse shirt?" His voice sounded relatively steady, but he detected the current of tension running underneath the words.

The girl frowned in concern.

"No, I haven't, I'm sorry. Overalls, you said? I can ask some of my co-workers inside if they've seen her."

"That would be great, yeah. I think she's still nearby, we were together until a few minutes ago."

"Absolutely!" The girl hurried into the shop as Peter continued to look for Morgan. His stomach felt like a rock and his heart was racing. 

Morgan could be anywhere, maybe in danger, and he was wasting time just standing around. Where could she have gone? He had to find her. This dread was one of the worst things Peter had ever felt, worse than facing down enemies or taking his college finals. This was Morgan, and she was gone when he should have been taking care of her. Pepper had trusted him to watch Morgan, and he hadn't even made it one day--

A new sound filtered through the normal noise of a crowd. Peter pricked up his ears and tried to focus his jangled Spidey senses. It sounded like a voice, a very familiar voice. Morgan? Rapidly, he started weaving through the streams of people in search of the source, growing more certain it was Morgan. The closer he walked, the more clearly he could hear, until he could make out words. Where was it coming from?

He honed in on a large knot of people, with Morgan at its center. She was standing starry eyed in front of Anna and Elsa talking loudly and enthusiastically with them.

"I love it here! Peter took me 'cause mom couldn't and he's been here before, so we haven't even gotten lost. And look, I coordinated all my clothes so my ears and my band match. Is it nice to live in Arendelle?"

The princesses made some reply, though Peter couldn't make out over the roaring in his ears from relief. Strangely, he was gasping like he had run a long way, even though he was barely twenty paces away from their original resting spot. Pushing through the crowd, he reached the empty space in the middle of the group.

"I should go bring Peter, Queen Elsa! I think you'd like him, and since Anna has Kristoff already you could marry Peter! And then we could live in the Forest with you!" Morgan had evidently changed the topic of the conversation and was very pleased with her newest idea. She had just turned around to dash off again when Peter, determined to act ignorant of what she had been saying, caught up to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"Morgan!" Relief combined with the panic of the past five minutes made his voice rougher than normal. "What did I say about staying with me? Why did you leave, I've been so worried looking for you!"

"But--but I asked you," Morgan said in confusion. “I saw Anna and Elsa and I asked you if I could go and you nodded... didn't you?"

Peter thought back. He didn't remember that, but it was possible Morgan might have said something while they sat on the bench and he didn't catch it. The movement of his head could have looked like nodding as he stretched...

"Even so, Morgan, we still promised to stick together. Next time, make sure I'm paying attention to the question and answer you with my voice. I don't want to feel like that again, not knowing where you were or if you were safe."

"I'm sorry, Peter." Morgan looked mournful as she said this and he smiled at her.

"Well, we're together now, and we're going to stay like that, right?"

"Yes." With the matter settled, Morgan turned back to Anna and Elsa with all the nonchalance of her age. She was completely ignorant of all the wild panic and adrenaline Peter had been subject to for the last ten minutes.

"So, I take it you're Peter?" Elsa asked. Behind her professional demeanor of calm kindness Peter thought he detected a hint of amusement in her eyes.

Morgan broke in. "Yeah, this is Peter! He's like my brother except that we're not related, but Mom always says that's not what counts for family. Like Ohana! Hey, Peter, right before you came I was just saying to Elsa that you and she should--"

"How about a picture?" Peter interrupted loudly before Morgan could finish her thought. The cast members who played Disney characters and princesses were probably trained to handle these kinds of situations, but he didn't feel like dealing with the awkwardness.

Luckily, Morgan was sufficiently distracted by having her picture taken with the two princesses before they turned away and started interacting with other people in the crowd.

For the rest of the day Morgan made it her mission to meet as many characters as she could, getting pictures and autographs. To Peter's relief, she didn't try to arrange any more marriages for him. This quest lasted all the way until it was time to go. 

As the pair walked to the exit, Peter asked about something Morgan had said that stuck in his mind. 

"What does your mom say about family? When we were talking with Anna and Elsa?"

Morgan looked up at him. "She says that sharing a mom or dad or grandparents isn't what makes a family, you just need to love each other! Like you and me. Because my mom isn't your mom but you're still my older brother and I'm like your sister." She said all this so matter of factly she could have been speaking about the weather.

The deep statement, phrased so simply in Morgan's eight year old language, resounded in Peter. He had always had a strange family situation, what with parents and Aunt May and even now, with Pepper and Morgan. It was comforting to think that even though he didn't have much family in the traditional sense, he could have plenty of love and family.

"Older brother, huh?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why not your cousin or something?"

"Because you're too cool and fun and annoying sometimes to be anything but my brother, and because I said so," Morgan declared. "That makes me your sister."

"Of course you are, Morgan."

That was that. Peter knew there was no chance of Morgan changing her mind once she had decided something. The newly proclaimed brother and sister continued to walk, two members of their crazy patchwork family, strolling through the happiest place on Earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta love to @Lebaas
> 
> Thanks for reading! I love Disney World, and it was so fun to write about these two in one of my favourite places.


	3. For Want of a Butterfly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgan is ready to get butterfly superpowers so she can team up with the mysterious Spiderman. In her quest to track down a genetically enhanced insect, however, she finds out more than she expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is based on the premise that Spiderman's identity remains unknown to the general public. Although Pepper would be aware of who Peter is, Morgan would not.

For as long as she can remember, Morgan has had one goal in life: to be Spiderman's partner. Not his sidekick, mind. A sidekick is not the same as being the superhero. From what Morgan's seen, a sidekick is only there to make the hero look cooler by wearing dumb costumes. No. She wants to be Spiderman's teammate, someone equal to him, to help him.

Comics became her textbooks; she studied the origin stories of how all the heroes got their superpowers. She can't very well join Spiderman without those. There weren’t many ways an eleven year old could get in contact with mysterious, magical rocks, nor does she think she’d be likely to be chosen for any genetic experiments, so those methods are out.

Flipping through her comic books, Morgan was struck by one reoccurring theme: bug bites. All her comics listed them as the cause of Spiderman's powers, agreeing with most conspiracy theorists in New York about the genetically altered nature of the spider. Weighing her options, Morgan decided a bug bite would be a good place to start investigating. Not a spider, though. She wasn’t trying to copy him completely. Morgan would be fine with just about any other bug to give her powers, but her first pick would be a butterfly. She could fly to keep up with Spiderman's web slinging, and the wings themselves might be invincible, like a protective cloak she could wrap around herself. Who knows what other powers she could get?

Once her mind was made up, she dove into research. She looked up facts about butterflies and how to attract them to backyards, planting a ridiculous number of wildflowers under her bedroom window. She meticulously tracked the migration patterns of monarchs. 

Morgan practically lived outside--if she was hoping for a super bug bite staying inside won't get her far. The only time her mom could drag her inside that summer was for meals, particularly when they have guests over for dinner.

Dreamily, she stared out at the backyard, comic books still piled on the grass next to her. A butterfly would be perfect... although she'd settle for anything at this point.

Abruptly, she stood up and started pacing. Morgan liked planning and researching, but it had been long enough. Something needed to change. This waiting around for a bug wasn't working. Spiderman's bug probably landed on him by coincidence, true, but Morgan couldn't assume she would be as lucky. Some of the less crazy conspiracy theorists had highlighted Osburn Labs as a likely place where Spiderman had encountered the mutant spider. Everyone in New York knew it contained all kinds of experiments, including genetic tests. She should go there and find her own wacked out bug, too.

"Morgan, dinner!"

The sound of her mom's voice brought her back from her plans. Hastily, she got to her feet and skirted around the pool, heading towards the slider door that led inside.

It took a second for her eyes to adjust from the bright July sunlight back to indoor lighting. Morgan blinked hard, and when her vision focused again she saw three placemats at the table. Excellent, that meant company.

"What, no greeting for the old man?"

"Peter!" Morgan exclaimed. "I didn't see you!" She ran over and gave him a hug. "Crashing another family dinner, huh?"

He shrugged. "What can I say, I just can't stay away from you and Pepper. That, and my friends banned me from our kitchen again, so my options were here or starve to death."

Morgan snorted. "What did you do, burn your ramen again?"

"No," Peter said in an affronted voice. "Even I, dear Morgan, can make a mean Cup-O-Noodles. Anyone can make--"

"You left the water out of Easy Mac, didn't you?"

"... possibly."

She looked him up and down sceptically. "Well, you're pretty far from starvation, despite your recent banishment. You are weirdly pale, though, so I won't rule out the possibility of you being a cadaver."

"Hey, pale is what you get when you write for a living and spend every day inside at a desk or the library."

Morgan laughed. She loved it when Peter came over. He was usually busy in the evening, so having him for dinner was less common than it was when she was little. They were so close they were practically brother and sister, and having him here made meal time much more fun.

Pepper put a pot of spaghetti on the table. "Plates and forks, please, Morgan. Peter, would you get glasses for us? I just have to grab the garlic bread and veggies and we'll be all set."

As they walked back into the kitchen to get the dishes, Peter continued, "Even if I am pale, it's not fair to measure against you. You're more tan than I've ever seen you. Have you been living outside? Next to you I'm practically glowing."

She considered how much to tell him. Somehow, her plans with butterflies and Spiderman felt private. She didn't think Peter would laugh at her or anything, but saying everything out loud would make her sound like a little kid. Morgan wanted to do this for real, not like younger kids that only daydreamed about getting superpowers. It was a big deal and lots of responsibility, plus it could be dangerous. Peter was pretty cool, but he was an adult, sort of. If he knew what she was planning, he would probably try to stop her or tell her mom.

"Uh, I've been looking for bugs. Especially butterflies."

"Bugs?" He repeated. "What for?"

"Just... just because." Morgan said lamely, wishing she had thought through a better story. "Bugs are cool. And butterflies are my favourite."

"How can you live in New York and have your favourite insect be anything other than a spider? You'd better hope Spiderman doesn't catch wind of your shifting bug allegiances, his feelings might get hurt." He said with a grin.

"Oh, please." Morgan rolled her eyes. "Spiderman is a superhero, Peter. He wouldn't care what my favourite bug is, even if he did somehow find out, which will never happen. He's too busy saving people!"

"Hey, you never know," Peter said lightly.

The conversation didn't return to the subject of Morgan's obsession with butterflies for the rest of the night, much to her relief. While Peter and her mom talked about MJ, work, and other grown up stuff, Morgan was thinking through the best way to get in contact with a mutant butterfly. If genetically enhanced insects existed in Osburn Lab, that's where she was going to have to go. She didn't know of any other places in all of New York that had mutant bugs laying around.

Go Fish, Sorry, and then a movie... normally nights like this with Peter and her mom were the highlight of her week, but tonight Morgan was impatient for it to end so she could go to bed. Tomorrow couldn't arrive soon enough for a trip to the lab, and when she came back... Morgan shivered with delight. Tomorrow night, one way or another she would have superpowers and could start tracking down Spiderman himself, a job that would also take some time.

After an eternity, Toy Story ended. Pepper turned to her and said, "Bedtime for you, Morgan. It's a little past time already." 

Quickly, she hugged her mom and Peter before hurrying to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Once she was finished, she started to walk towards the staircase up to her room. She'd just started climbing the stairs when she heard Peter and her mom talking quietly, still in the living room around the corner.

As a rule, Morgan considered herself generally honest. A good person. Eavesdropping was rude, her brain reminded.

Her feet didn't listen to her brain. As soon as she heard her name mentioned, nothing on Earth could have prevented her from sneaking back down to listen. What were they talking about? Christmas present ideas? No, that was months away. Maybe a surprise of some sort? Or--she froze--maybe they’d learned about her secret plans somehow. Morgan crept towards the door, channeling every spy movie she'd ever seen to remain unseen. To their credit, one of them had attempted to close it, but the latch hadn't caught and it had swung back open. She could hear their voices spilling through the narrow opening.

Her mom was speaking. “...and thanks for coming over tonight to see Morgan, Peter. I know how busy you’ve been lately. We both love seeing you.”

“I should be thanking you, Pepper. Coming here is a nice break from everything else going on.” Peter paused, hesitating. “Um, I don’t mean to pry or anything, but did Morgan seem… kind of different tonight to you?” 

Evidently, her acting wasn’t as good as she thought it was. Morgan strained to hear how her mom responded.

“I think we kept her up too late, that's all. She seemed tired tonight. Other than that, there's just her odd fixation with butterflies this summer--”

“She mentioned that to me, too! I told her she was basically betraying me and every other New Yorker of good standing for failing to recognize the superiority of the spider.”

Pepper laughed softly. “Who knows what it is? There are far worse ways to spend the summer than playing outside hunting insects. Speaking of which, it's going to be a big day tomorrow for you, right? You've been working for weeks on it, I'm sure you're ready to be done with it all. It's taken up nearly your whole summer.”

“Yeah, it's been a long time in the works. I'm really hoping that…”

Morgan slunk away, realizing that the conversation had clearly turned to grown up work stuff. Peter's job as a journalist was actually pretty cool in her opinion, but she didn't care to hear about the details of whatever article he was writing. The important thing she got from that exchange was that Peter and her mom were still ignorant of her plans.

Perfect.

~*~*~

The next morning, the alarm clock woke her with its relentless racket. Even during the summer holidays, Morgan kept to a schedule for waking up. She hated the feeling of waking up so late the day was half gone. 

Snatching up her backpack filled with supplies, Morgan ran downstairs to find her mom. She was allowed to go to exactly one place without Pepper or another adult: the local library down the street. Morgan knew her mom wouldn’t be concerned if she didn’t come back for hours. She frequently spent all day there, reading and people watching. All it took was a quick promise to be back in time for dinner and Morgan was off, riding her bike as fast as she dared without looking like she was up to something.

Once she rounded the corner, Morgan started pedaling rapidly. Osburn Lab was about three miles away. Even on her bike, it would take some time to get there. While she rode, she thought about what she’d do when she got in. Actually, how would she even get in at all? They probably had security checks or something. Well, she would just have to improvise when she got there.

She finally reached the lab after an eternity of biking. Her watch said it had only been thirty minutes, but it was clearly lying or broken, possibly both. Locking her bike to a tree, Morgan squinted in the direction of the visitor entrance. Designed for tours and school groups, she thought the visitor's entrance was her best bet for getting in. From there, all she had to do was find the mutant bug room, locate a butterfly, and let fate do the rest.

Well, that was the plan, anyways.

The closer she got to the entrance, the more she got that feeling that something was wrong. A small prickle went through her skin; she didn't need supernatural powers to tell something was off about the lab. Going through the glass doors, Morgan's feelings were confirmed. The lobby was completely deserted. No one was in the administrative offices lining the room, not even a receptionist behind the main desk. Nothing. A purse lay on the ground, spilling its contents onto the floor. Examining the desks, Morgan saw computer screens still open to email inboxes and conference calls. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a cell phone buzzed, left abandoned on a chair.

Despite the uneasy feeling of being alone in a forbidden place, she immediately saw how fortunate the situation was. No need to make up a story to get in; she could just walk right in through the hallway leading to the laboratories. All she'd need to do from there was not get caught.

Morgan needn't have worried about getting caught, however. The labs were, strangely, just as empty as the lobby. Unsure of where to go, Morgan turned down hallways at random, her unease growing with every empty room she passed. There was no way it was normal for the entire complex to be deserted on an average weekday. Something weird must be happening, but the opportunity to wander around unimpeded was way too good to question. Ruthlessly, she pushed aside her discomfort and kept searching.

The labs were, in a word, awesome. Morgan loved science and there were all kinds of experiments going on, from medicine to weaponry to ordinary consumer products. At every turn she was tempted to stay and examine the machines, beakers, and gadgets more closely, but she resisted. She had no idea how long her luck would hold before everyone would come back, and it felt like the only division she hadn't seen yet was the animal experiments.

Her watch beeped. She had already spent a full hour inside. Breaking into a run, Morgan turned down another gleaming, white hall, identical to all the others she'd been through. In the distance, she thought she heard something. A screech? A bark? At last, Morgan felt she was getting close to where the animals were kept. Rounding the corner, she reached for another random doorknob and stepped into the room. 

The lab was enormous. Desks and lab stations were scattered all throughout the room. Towering bookshelves lined the walls, punctuated by the occasional door that led to smaller labs and offices. Free standing filing cabinets formed islands throughout the room, most of which were crammed with papers hanging out. The entire floor was sectioned off into pens for different animals, all of which were making such a tremendous racket it was amazing she hadn't heard them before.

It was the most amazing, chaotic thing Morgan thought she'd ever seen, but it wasn't why she was gaping. 

In the middle of the room, Spiderman and four other people were fighting.

At least, it certainly looked like a fight to Morgan. She could hear Spiderman tossing witty remarks to the bad guys, who were shouting and cursing back at him. Morgan’s blood ran cold. 

How could she do this? She wasn’t cut out for this. She didn’t have any special powers yet, there was no way she could intervene! 

To his credit, Spiderman looked like he was doing pretty well. Swinging from the bookshelves and ceiling, he ducked and dodged the attacks gracefully, darting in between the masked men to land punches. Even as she watched, one of them fell after a particularly fierce hit and stayed on the ground, unconscious. Morgan could only watch with wide eyes, feet rooted in place as he deftly maneuvered around the remaining three, skillfully avoiding their weapons and bullets.

Terrifying as it was, she couldn’t help but admire the way he fought. Hopefully he could teach her once she had superpowers. Right now Morgan felt doubtful that she would be able to keep up with him.

A crack interrupted her thoughts. Two more men were on the floor, and she had completely missed it. For a second, she felt an absurd feeling of annoyance with herself for missing the chance to watch her favourite superhero--her idol--in action. Although, in the future she would see him plenty, because she would fight alongside him.

“One on one, now!” Spiderman’s voice rang through the room. It sounded kind of familiar. “Still think you can take me down?”

“Please, kid, I could handle you all on my own. Those other guys were just for decoration. I’m the really--” 

Morgan never learned what he really was, because Spiderman’s foot connected with the criminal’s mouth, cutting off the rest of his sentence and knocking him out cold. She looked in awe at the four bad guys. Moments ago they were gun wielding, terrifying threats, and now they were unconscious and on the ground, ready to go to jail. All because of Spiderman. All because he was looking out for the people of New York, wanting to keep them safe and protected. He really was the best superhero in the world, and she didn’t think that just because she was from New York. It was because he cared so much about everyone, no matter how small their problems might be. For all she knew, these bad guys might be incredibly dangerous men involved in a huge crime syndicate, or they could be petty criminals threatening a small neighbourhood in Queens. Spiderman didn’t care; he would go after them all to keep people safe and make New York a better place.

He poked around for a bit, examining each person lying on the ground and texting something on his phone, maybe contacting the police or something. Morgan faced an immense internal battle: should she reveal herself to Spiderman right now, even without powers, or should she wait for him to leave, find a butterfly, then track him down again? Each option had its pros and cons. Finding him again would be annoying, but was there really a point approaching him if she didn’t have any superpowers of her own? Back and forth her mind wavered, even as Spiderman stood back up, stretched, and removed his mask.

Morgan’s heart stopped. She inhaled so sharply it hurt.

“Peter?” Her voice carried through the lab, echoing off the walls. It couldn’t be true. Peter must have a very convincing doppelganger or something; there had to be some explanation why her friend, her brother, was standing in Spiderman’s costume twenty feet away from her. Peter couldn’t be Spiderman, because if he was, he would have told her… wouldn’t he? 

“Morgan?” He gasped. “What are you doing here?”

In a daze, she walked towards him, picking her way through the bodies on the ground. As she got loser and closer, her mind dizzily denied who was standing in front of her, but her eyes started sending proof. His height, the same as Peter’s. Without the mask, she saw his brown eyes and curly, sandy hair. Just like Peter’s. His face was as white as a sheet, far paler than it had been yesterday night at dinner… and that’s when it sank in. Peter was Spiderman. She had teased him yesterday (was it really only yesterday?) about how pale he was. Well, duh. The mask and Spidey suit would certainly block sunlight.

“Why--” Her voice cracked. “Why would you--I don’t understand.”

“This really isn’t how Pepper and I imagined you finding out.” Peter sounded nervous. Gone was the confident, cocky superhero who had taunted the men he had fought. Instead, Peter looked scared, and maybe even a bit guilty.

Morgan cleared her throat, biding for time. There were so many emotions swirling inside her she could barely separate them all, but one came roaring to the surface: anger. 

“Mom knows about--about you? My mom, Pepper Stark, knows that you’re--of course she does, why wouldn’t she? No. No, the more important question I have is why didn’t you tell me? Why, Peter?” Her throat felt tight and her eyes burned with tears she didn’t want him to see. “Is it because I’m too young? Your little kid sister, can’t handle the truth? Or did you think I wouldn't be able to keep it a secret? Adults only information, that’s what it is, can’t trust Morgan with it! Why, Peter?”

“No! It wasn’t that at all, Morgan. Of course it’s not that we think you’re untrustworthy or that you can’t keep a secret! Your mom and I decided we would tell you when you turned twelve--”

“Convenient.”

“We were! Yeah, we’d planned on waiting a little longer, but it was for a good reason, and we always planned on telling you!”

“What reason could you possibly have for lying to me about who you are, what you do every day? Are you actually even a journalist? What else are you ‘planning’ to tell me?”

Peter sighed. “Yes, Morgan, I really do work as a journalist. Catching bad guys anonymously doesn’t exactly pay the bills.” He tried a weak smile, but she just stared at him silently. “My, uh, side gig as Spiderman is significant, but I promise you there’s nothing else about me that you don’t know.”

“Oh, what a relief!” Even to her own ears, Morgan could tell she sounded a bit shrill. “Thank goodness I know your favourite restaurant, movie, and ice cream flavour, and all I was missing was that you’re freaking Spiderman! That makes me feel much better, really, to have all the important information about Peter Parker, never mind about where he goes at night, which is apparently to risk his life beating up criminals!” The tears she had forcibly kept back began to choke her, strangling her vocal chords. “I’m your sister, Peter! We’re family, and family trusts each other, even with stuff like this! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because of what happened with Mr. Stark!” Peter burst out. Immediately, he looked stricken and explained. “Morgan, of course Pepper and I trust you, but after what happened to your dad…” he swallowed hard, looking like he was struggling against tears himself. “After Mr. Stark, um, after everything… happened, you weren’t doing so well. You were young, I don’t know if you remember, but you’d wake up screaming every night from nightmares. You’d call for him and get so upset when he wouldn’t come. You were just a kid, one that lost someone important way too soon. 

“Being a superhero, it’s not safe. When I decided to put the suit back on, I knew there was always a chance that I wouldn’t… come back. Twelve, that’s what we decided on. It’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid, to tell her that someone else in her family is putting their life at risk every day, and you’d already lost your dad. You were so fragile after Tony… it wouldn’t have been good for you to know, I still believe that.” Peter met her teary eyes. “You can be as mad as you want at me, but I didn’t want to put you through that before you could handle it. Maybe that wasn’t my decision to make. It’s impossible to judge when another person is ready to hear the truth, but your mom and I swore to protect you, and we thought twelve was the right age for you to know.”

Morgan sniffled, digesting this. She did remember her dad, partially. She had a few clear memories and the feeling of being loved, but she couldn't recall what life was like immediately after he died. He was there and then he wasn't, and it was just her and her mom. She missed him, of course, but it was sort of like the way a mouth missed a tooth that's fallen out. For a while the hole feels jarring and empty, but little by little it feels normal, until just the shadow of the absence remains. Still present, impossible to forget or ignore, but not as painful as it was initially. She wasn't a little kid anymore, but she had been back then. And Peter was right: superheroes don't always come home. She had known that for years.

Taking stock of her feelings, Morgan was startled to find that a large part of her tears was from fear, fear for Peter. Spiderman was fast and strong, but it would only take one lucky hit and he could die. She hated being kept in the dark, but a tiny part of her begrudgingly acknowledged that Peter had a point. Five years old was pretty young to tell a grieving little girl that Peter, basically her older brother, was a superhero just like her dead father. She was smart; even back then she would've put the pieces together and figured out Peter would be in danger. Finally closing the distance between them, she threw her arms around Peter in a big hug.

“I'm still kind of mad,” she said tearily.

“I know.” Peter hugged her back. “What were you doing in here, anyways?”

“Nothing,” she replied quickly.

Peter snorted in disbelief but dropped the matter for the time being. Privately, Morgan vowed to never, never let Peter find out about what she had planned.

The butterflies could wait. Today, she was going to appreciate the spiders in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta love to @Lebaas
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.


	4. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When it comes to picking a college, Peter has a tough choice to make between his home in New York or attending school across the country. Luckily, Aunt May has some wisdom to share with the superhero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is dedicated to my brother, part of the 2020 MIA graduating class. You should have gotten more of a celebration, bro, but here's a random story on the internet you'll never read instead.

As May walked into Peter's room, she was met with an explosion of papers. Pamphlets, letters, and brochures were scattered on the floor, the bed, and dropping gently off the desk. Seated in the midst of the mess was Peter, shoulders hunched and poring over some of the papers. At random, he swept them off the surface and groped for new ones on the floor before starting all over again. Faintly, May could hear him muttering as he read to himself.

"Peter, what's going on here?" She asked.

His head jerked up. "Aunt May! Hey! I'm just, well..." He looked around the room as if just noticing the state it was in.

She bent down and retrieved a handful of letters.

"Dear Mr. Peter Parker, we are pleased to inform you of your admission to UCLA... The University of Michigan is pleased to offer Mr. Peter Parker a spot in the incoming class... Dear Mr. Peter Parker, congratulations on admission into Berkeley University... Peter, are these all acceptance letters?"

"Yes! No! I mean, yeah, they're mostly that, some of this is marketing stuff." Helplessly, he shrugged, dismissing the mountain of papers. "Why do schools send so much mail, Aunt May? This is only what I've gotten in the last two weeks!"

She laughed, partially from the despairing look on her nephew's face, but also from the memory of her own college days.

"How many applications did you fill out, Peter? There's at least a full tree's worth of paper in here. You should start an office supply store."

That made him crack a smile. "I don't know, I just kept looking up universities and thought they looked cool, so I'd apply and then forget about it. I didn't realize they all decided about admission at the same time. What do they do, coordinate with each other and log a forest to send all this stuff?"

May put on her best grown-up, sensible tone. "How have you been sorting through them up until now?"

Peter flapped his hands in the direction of his dresser. "Whenever something came in the mail I stuck it under there. They started spilling back out today."

May sighed with fondness. Peter was extremely bright and she wasn't at all surprised that universities were jumping to accept him. Even so, his organizational skills were atrocious; they wouldn't do him any favours next year when he was on his own at college. She kneeled down and started gathering up every piece of mail strewn around the room.

"How about this: let's stack all of it on your desk. As you read them, you can sort into categories."

"Like what?"

"Why don't we start simple--a pile on your left for things you want to read more closely and another on your right for junk mail or schools you know you aren't interested in. You can recycle that right away and start reducing the pile so it's not so overwhelming."

"Sounds good." Helping May collect the rest of the letters, he tossed them on the desk. By the time they were done, it was buried under a small mountain. Peter took a deep breath and reached for the top paper. May quietly slipped out as he scanned it and dropped it on his right.

Several hours later, she tapped on Peter's door.

"How's it coming in there, Peter? Have you made some progress?"

He made a soft murmur of assent. May pushed the door open to a familiar sight: Peter at his desk, head bent over a couple papers with plenty more scattered at his feet. There was improvement, though, considering that all the letters were concentrated around his desk, rather than all over the room.

"Well, this is a little better than this morning. How are you doing? Ready for a break? It's lunchtime."

That at least broke through Peter's haze of concentration. Blinking, he nodded briefly before standing.

"Why don't we take the reject pile out to the recycling while we're at it?" she suggested. "It will give you more space to work."

They each grabbed thick handfuls of crackling mail, bringing it to the bin in the kitchen before sitting at the dining table for lunch.

May served up the soup before saying, "Any closer to making a decision?" She didn't want to push him, but it was already June. Most high school seniors had already picked where they would attend. When he didn't respond, she continued, "Where are Ned and MJ going?"

"Ned is going to MIT and MJ's going to Yale," Peter replied tersely.

The conversation stalled. He sat poking at the soup she knew he normally loved, and he wasn't speaking--all quite out of the ordinary for Peter Parker. As far as she knew, eating and talking were two of his greatest pleasures in life. 

May was at a loss for Peter's mood. She had left him in relatively good spirits, albeit facing down a large amount of junk mail. This quiet contemplation was off-putting. It even seemed tinged with a bit of annoyance. For Peter, normally so patient and kind, he was acting strangely. Thinking back, she couldn't pin point anything she'd said or done to warrant it. Was it just because she had asked about his friends?

"What’s up, Peter?" She asked, a bit snappish now herself. "Did something happen between this morning and now to put you in this mood?"

"It's nothing."

"I don't buy that," May exclaimed. "Something's clearly up, you've barely said ten words to me in the last five minutes. Please, is there something I can do? I'd like to help you, Peter."

He sighed. "Sorry, Aunt May. Just thinking."

"About?"

"I think I've made a decision."

"Oh!" May couldn't hide her surprise. "That sounds like great news to me! But you don't seem too happy about it. Where are you thinking you'll go in the fall?"

He hesitated for a long time. Just as May was about to ask again, he said, "UCLA." Once that was out, it was as if a verbal dam had been broken in Peter. "I know it's really far away, but it's a good school with a great program, and they offered me really good scholarships, and--"

"Peter!" She cut off his rambling before he asphyxiated. "Do you think I'm mad at what school you chose?"

Snapping his mouth with an audible click, he shook his head slowly. "No, not really. It just feels a little weird. I think a lot of people expected me to pick a school here in New York, or at least close by. I'm Spiderman, you know? Spiderman and New York go together like ice cream and pie. You can't just have pie. But... I don't know, none of the universities I visited here felt right."

In between the reasons and justifications of UCLA, May saw what Peter was really trying to say: he was afraid he was going to disappoint everyone because of where he wanted to go to college.

Standing up, she pulled him into a hug. "Peter, college is a place for you to spread your wings. I'm biased, but you're one of the smartest, most capable kids your age I've met. On top of that, you have a big heart and limitless capacity to care for others. They're going to be lucky to have you there."

"But what about everyone here?" Peter looked guilty, a look May hated seeing on him. He took on so much responsibility every day as Spiderman, every little victory or loss personally. Most people in his shoes would have let their position and powers go to their head, while her nephew still considered what impact his college location would have. "It feels like I'm letting them down. Is that stupid?"

"No, of course not. And the city will miss you. I'll miss you." She hugged him tighter. "But in terms of superheroes, I would say New York is plenty covered enough for you to go to university. Remember, you can come back during breaks and for the summer. Going to school in LA doesn't mean you'll be gone forever."

Those words stuck with Peter as he confirmed his enrollment. Through the packing that summer, airplane ride in the fall, and right up to his first step in his new dorm room, he couldn't forget Aunt May's reminder: New York was always there, ready to welcome him home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta love to @Lebaas
> 
> For all of you starting school (whether in person or online) congratulations, and stay healthy! I hope you enjoy the year in whatever way it's coming, and as always thanks for reading.


End file.
